Misano MotoGP: Sunday Guide

With the MotoGP field back at full strength, the seventeen riders lining up to start the race at Misano will have a record combined total of 328 Grand Prix victories.

• Dani Pedrosa starts from pole for the fourth time in 2010. Following his victory at the Indianapolis GP seven days ago, Pedrosa will be aiming to take back-to-back victories for the first time in the MotoGP class. Having won at Mugello earlier in the year, Pedrosa could take his second win of the year on Italian soil.

• Pedrosa’s pole is the first for Honda at Misano since the return of GP racing to the circuit in 2007. During this time period, Honda have not had a MotoGP victory at the Misano circuit.

• Second on the grid is Jorge Lorenzo, this maintains his record of qualifying on the front row at every MotoGP race this year. If Lorenzo finishes in the top three at Misano he will become only the fourth rider of all-time to finish on the podium at the opening twelve GP races of the year in the premier-class; the other riders to have done this are Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi.

• Casey Stoner returns to the front row of the grid after missing out at both Brno and Indianapolis.

• Heading up the second row of the grid is Valentino Rossi, who has won at Misano for the last two years.

• Ben Spies is in fifth place on the grid and is the top non-factory rider in qualifying for the fourth successive race.

• Randy de Puniet crashed on the first lap at Misano in both 2007 and 2008, and last year finished 12th after running off the track on the first lap to avoid fallen riders. Sixth place on the grid for De Puniet is his best qualifying result since he took the final front row qualifying slot at the Catalan Grand Prix.

• Seventh on the grid is Colin Edwards, who is still looking for his first top six finish of 2010.

• Loris Capirossi is scheduled to become only the second rider to reach the milestone of 200 Grand Prix starts in the premier-class of Grand Prix racing; the only other rider to have done this is Alex Barros.

Misano Moto2 Sunday Guide

• Toni Elias has qualified on pole for the first time since the opening race of the year at Qatar. The last time that Elias has won a race starting from pole position was in the 250cc class at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2003.

• Second on the grid is Scott Redding, equalling his best ever qualifying result that he achieved twice whilst racing in the 125cc class. Redding will be aiming to become the youngest ever rider to win an intermediate-class Grand Prix, to add to his record of being the youngest ever rider to win a 125cc GP race.

• Julian Simon, who won the 125cc race at Misano last year, is in third place on the grid and a top three finish in the race would give him back-to-back podium finish for the first time in the Moto2 class.

• Jules Cluzel has qualified on the front row for the first time since he was second on the grid at Silverstone, where he went on to win the race.

• Alex de Angelis has qualified in seventh place on the grid on his return to the Moto2 class. De Angelis has crashed out of the MotoGP race for the last two years at Misano; on the first lap last year and the second lap in 2008.

125cc GP Sunday Guide

• Spanish riders have won the last twenty 125cc races. The last non-Spanish winner in the 125cc class was Andrea Iannone at the Catalan Grand Prix last year.

• Bradley Smith starts from pole for the second time this year and for the second successive year at Misano. This is Smith’s eighth pole of his career; from his previous seven poles he has only once gone on to win the race – at Mugello last year.

• Second on the grid is Marc Marquez, who starts from the front row for the tenth time in 2010.

• Nico Terol is aiming to take his third successive victory to regain the lead of the championship standings. He last headed the series following the Dutch TT at the end of June.

• Fourth-fastest qualifier is Pol Espargaro, who returns to the front row of the grid after missing out for the first time this year at Indianapolis.

• Tomoyoshi Koyama is in fifth place on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since he was 4th fastest qualifier at Phillip Island in 2007.

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